Flee Circus

WEDNESDAY, April 1 — Q: My mom left when I was young, and my former husband left me, too. Maybe because of this, I’ve noticed that I’m quick to assume that any man I’m seeing is ditching me. In the early stages of dating, if there’s a lag in calling or texting me back, I’ll lash out — block the guy on Facebook and delete him from my phone — only to feel stupid when I learn that his phone battery died or he was already asleep. As a relationship progresses, I still perceive relatively innocuous things as signs it’s over, and I keep testing a guy’s limits with demands and drama, pushing him to (finally) bail. How do I stop doing this? It’s totally unconscious in the moment.